Secondary battery.



No. man. 'Patented lune m,.|902".-

, W MORRISON.

SECONDARY BATTERY.

(Application led June 18,1900.)

(No Model.) s sheets-sheet l.

,mt-noms Pinzas om. mgm-umg, wnsnmofoy, n. c;

Np. 7u|,9|7. r y Patented Jun m, |902.

' w. Monnlsnu.

SECONDARY BATTERY. (Applica-ation led .TuneV 18, 1900.)

s sh'eefs-Sheef 2.

(No Model.)

SECONDARY BATTERY.

(Application med June is, 1900.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-*Sheet 3,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MORRISON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGINORv TO THE'I-IELIOS- UPTON COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

.s con DRYAB'AJrTERy; .i4

srEcIFIcA'rI'oN forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,917., aatedsan L10, 1 902.-

' lppuoationneatunels,1900. sentiments?.oramai.) 3

' T0l a/ZZ whom, it Magnan/cern:

Be it knownv that `I,'W1LLIAM`MoRRIsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State Vof Illi- 5 nois, have inventedf'certain new and useful Improvements in Secondary Batteries, l,of

which the following is a specification'.

This invention relates to secondary batteries, and more particularly to Athat class 1o known as the Plante type, and has for its object to provide a battery 'er battery element which shall have a maximum capacity in pro#l portion to its weight. In. batteries of this type as heretofore constructed Lthe elements I5 have been composed, as aA rule,'of sheets or plates of lead and only the surface portions thereof constitute the active material, the central or body portionacting onlyf as a support and being of considerable bulk and weight. This adds considerably to the weight of the battery without in any way increasing its capacity; and itis the 'object of my present 'invention to obviate this objection and to produce a battery element the capacity of which 25 shall be greatly increased in proportion to its weight.

lTo this and other ends my present invenf tion consists in certain novel features which I will now proceed to'describe and will then 3o particularly point out in the claims.

In the accompanying;l drawings, Figure .l is a View of a batteryembodying my inventionv 4in one form, the cell being in section. j Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form, partially plan view of the elements of thebattery shownv in Fig. 1"., Fig. 5 isf asimilar view of the elements of the batteryshown in Fig. 2.' Fig. 6 is. a view illustrating'.thepprocess of constructing abattery element, and Fig.7 is an edge view ofthe structure shown in Fig. 6.

In carrying out m'ynvention I propose tol 45 constructeach battery element of a plurality of sheets of lead-leaf or lead-foil, the same being extremely thin, and flexible sheets of lead. These sheets are perforated or provided with a plurality of apertures of such size and numberv 5o that the battery iuid or iluid in the forminglbroken away to show the internal construe: Fig. 3 is a plan view lof the construc-V cen'may'pass freely amiguita-'body of the element composed'of these apertured sheets.

I ndconstructing a battery elementI according to the preferr'edformjv ef'fmy, invention I roll up a number of .these sheets o`f"le a .c li:`oil or 55 leadjleaf in spiral form`,`,an"d a preliminary step I arrange the sheets'inp'airs, as shown more particularly in FigsfI' and 7.4 In said vfigures AI* havev indicated the sheetsvof leadfoil by the reference-numerals ljand 2, and 6o` it will be observed that 'these'sheets' areA sliperposed in pairs, each pair Aconsisting of a sheet 1 which has comparatively short perforations running longitudinally of the sheet, and asheet 2, wherein the perforations are ar- 65 ranged to run transverselyfof thesheet or,

in other words, Aat right angles tothe perforations on the sheet l, which is thef'other sheet of the pair. The perforationsffthe sheet 2 are of vsufficient'length toexteiid across at 7o least two of theV perfora'tions of the other sheet, and preferably they aresu'chia length as to extend across threejof Vthe'sirialler perforations, as shown. Between7 eachP pair of lsheets I'placefa suitable Viiexibleseparating 75 device,'and inthe construction shown in Figs.

A6a`nd7 this separating de vic'egconsists of a cient number of pairs'off'sheets have been 8o.

placed one above theotherand separated as describedthe' entire structureis rolled spirally, A so kas to form"asubs tantially cyln-` drical body.y For'fthis purpose' I' prefer to employ a tube or rod 1 'of11'e'ad, to which the 85 edgesofthe sheets 'at one en d Offthebody of thefmaterialj area suitably, joined-fas, for instance', yby burning thenrbonbrsoldering.' When this connection has'beenfeifected,itiis `obvious that by burning the rodflortube 4 9o and rolling it over thev body'ofthe Astructure the whole will be formed into a spiral offeylindrical form. The arrangement impairs does not necessarily Krequire to be followed throughout the entire structure, and in the actual construction shown the last sheet of lead-foil is a single one. The sheets maybe entirely separate or they may be united in pairs, in which case the pile will be constructed by making the sheets of twice the length xo of the pile and folding them centrally. After the sheets have been rolled up into cylinder form the separating devices are withdrawn, and the central or inner element is then completed by suitably securing the free ends of the sheet, preferably by burning them onto the body of the sheets which they overlie. This union may be effected before the withdrawal of the separating devices. The inner element as thus constructed I have designated as a whole by the reference-numeral 5. Around the body of the inner element is wrapped an expansible or yielding sheet of non-conducting material, and this consists in its preferred form of a corrugated sheet ofhard rubber 0, apertured to permit the free passage of the liquid. This structure is of such a nature that as the bodies of the battery elements increase in size during the forming process the corrugations will be somewhat flattened out, and the insulatingsheet will thus accommodate itself to the said increase in size. In order to prevent the sheet from.` collapsing when the battery becomes heated, I prefer to insel-tin the spaces formed by the corrugations of the insulator rods or tubes 7, preferably constructed of hard rubber and serving to eifectually prevent such a crushing of the perforated insulating-sheet as would permit the short-circuit of the battery. The ends of the sheet are overlapped, as indicated at 8, and are held in position by that one of the rods 7 which lies within the corrugation where the overlapping occurs. I have shown the rods as located in the spaces between the outer battery element and the corrugated sheets; but they may obviously be located in the spaces between the inner battery element and said sheet. The outer battery element is then constructed by winding or rolling a plurality of sheets of lead leaf or foil around the central body already formed as a core. These sheets will be built up in a pile in the manner already described in connection with the inner battery element, and suitable separating devices will be employed to separate the pairs of sheets. The free edges of these sheets are secured in any suitable manner, as by burning them to the body of the element, and the outer battery element, which is indicated at 9, is

thus constituted. The rod or tube 4 constitutes aterminal for the inner battery element, and a suitable terminal for the outer battery element may be obtained by inserting between the component sheets thereof 'during the process of winding a flat strip 10 of suitable conducting metal, which extends upward above the body of the structure, as indicated in Fig. l. This strip is located about centrally between the inner and outer surface of the element and may be united to the adjacent lead sheets by burning or in any other suitable manner. The said strip, or at least that portion thereof which lies below the top of the element, is suitably perforated, so as to permit free passage of the battery fluid.

If desired, each element of the battery may be inclosed in a suitable tubular casing, the casing for the inner element being indicated at 1l and that of the outer element at l2.

These casings are preferably constructed of lead in the shape of a pipe and being subsequently perforated or apertured to permit the free passage of the battery fluid. The elements inclosed within the casing will by reason of their expansion during the forming process be caused to firmly fit within and completely fill the casing and will thus be protected from inj ury. When the particular construction just referred to is employed, I prefer to provide the terminal of the outer element of the battery by forming the same integrally upon the external surface of the casing l2, and this can be readily accomplished when the casing is made, as lead pipes are usually made by forcing the lead through a die and by imparting to the die a conformation suitable to form on the exterior of the tube a rib, of which the lower and superlous portion may subsequently be cutaway in any desired manner. After the battery elements have been made into the form shown and the spacing devices have been removed from between the sheets of lead-foil the elements are placed within acell lil, containing a suitable acid bath, and a current of electricity is passed through the elements in the usual manner employed in the forming of such batteries, whereby the lead-foil of which the elements are composed becomes converted into active material. By reason of the fact that the acid-bath has free access to practically all of the exposed surfaces and all of the sheets of leadsfoil the conversion of the same into acid material is practically complete and the percentage of inert material which exists in lead plates as heretofore employed is practically eliminated. In this Way the capacity of the battery in proportion to its weight is very greatly increased and in fact almost doubled.

Although I have described as an illustration of my invention a structure embodying the same in one form and with certain modifications, yet I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the details of construction set forth, as it is obvious that they may be varied without departing from the principle of my invention.

I claim- 1. An element for secondary batteries formed by electrochemical action from a plurality of fiat sheets of lead leaf or foil, said sheets being arranged in pairs in juxtaposition and having elongated apertures, the apertures of one leaf or sheet of each pair eX- tending transversely across the apertures of the other leaf of said pair, substantially as described.

2. An element forsecondary batteries, composed of a plurality of sheets of lead leaf or foil arranged in pairs, one sheet of each pair having comparatively short apertures and the other leaf of said pair having long apertures IOO IIO

`arranged to cross two or more of the apertures of the first-mentioned leaf, substantially as described.

3. A secondary-battery element composedl ing the form of a relatively long cylindric body, whereby access of an electrolyte to the main portion of the element, is had through vthe perforations chieliy, and expansion incident to forming is provided for.

4. In asecondary battery, the combination, with an inner element composed of a plurality of sheets of lead leaf or foil rolled.l into spiral shape, of a similarly-composed'outer element, inclosing said first element and an expansible insulating material located between the two elements, substantially as described..

5. The combination, with an inner element composed of a plurality of perforated sheets of lead leaf or foil rolled into spiral form, of a similarly-composed outer element, inclosi-A ing said first element and a perforated sheet of insulating material located between said elements, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with the inner and outer elements composed of a plurality of sheets of lead leaf or foil spirally wound, of a corrugated sheet of insulating material interposed between the two, and rodsor tubes of insulating material insertedin the corrugations, substantially asdescribed. j f 35 7. In a battery of the character described, the combination with an element having a body portion composed of a plurality of per-v forated sheets of lead-leaf, rolled into spiral f form, of an inclo'sing casing consistingof a 4o circumferentially integral and uninterrupted tube of lead having terminal projection formed integral therewith, substantially as described.

8. A batteryjelement consisting of a plu- 45 rality of pairs of sheets of lead or foil wound spirally around each other, the members of each pair ofl sheets being arranged in juxta-V position and annular spaces being provided between each pair of a width greater than the 5o thickness of single sheets, as and for the purpose set forth.

' 9. A battery element comprising a plurality of sheets of lead leaf or foil, formed spi' rally around each other, each pair of leaves 55 consisting of iiat perforated leaves arranged in juxtaposition to each other and annular spaces arranged between each adjacent pair of leaves, whereby the leaves of each pair are in contact with each other, but are free from 6o contact with the leaves of adjacent pairs, sub- Witnesses:

IRVINE MILLER, ADA H. BARNES. 

